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their knowledge of the effects of food on development that they are able to produce workers or queens as they wish. A worker is the result of insufficient nourishment. The larvæ are fed on food, which only develops workers. If during the first eight days of the life of a larva it is fed on royal food, the reproductive organs and instincts become fully developed and the larva becomes a queen. Royal food is a highly nitrogenous diet composed of the pollen of flowers. The insufficient nutrition which develops workers, but not the reproductive instincts, is less highly nitrogenous-indeed is largely carbonaceous. In case the queen dies or is lost the workers at once set about providing for a new queen by feeding a larva at the proper time with this highly nitrogenous food. I think this compels us to believe that they do it consciously, and that the colony of bees also rear workers consciously, for it is only by an abundance of workers that the colony can exist. How can they know, except by highly developed intellect and inherited experience, that one kind of food will produce one effect and another kind another?

There is a remarkable difference in the mental traits of queens and workers. The queen knows that it is not well to lay eggs when there are not workers enough to feed and care for them. This is a most reasonable procedure, and one which human beings might study to advantage. She is also aware of the fact that it is not well to have too large a number of drones, who eat honey and do no work, and so she produces them at will-by laying unfructified eggs to the extent to which drones may be required and no more.

That bees reflect and adapt their conduct to their requirements is, it seems to me, evident from the fact that when carried to countries where they find supplies of food all the year round they cease to store it up. They do not do this immediately, but only after they have learned that it is unnecessary. In Australia, where food is abundant most of the year, in order to have honey it is necessary to import new queens that will produce workers which have not had experience in that country. And if they cease to store up honey when experience tells them it is not needed, is not the opposite true that when they do store it up in those climates that have long winters they do it consciously and with a full knowledge of the need they will have for it? Again, why do bees pursue and sting one who robs them of their honey if they do not know its value? It has been stated on very good authority that the Italian bees will sometimes attack in a mass a man who has robbed their hive

days after the occurrence, as if to destroy him. And this brings up the fact that they have a very good knowledge of human nature and know their friends from their enemies, if not perfectly, at least reasonably well. In placing comb in new and difficult places, they show a diversity of practical engineering talent which entitles them to much credit.

Another instance of the intellect of bees is shown by the fact that when in hot weather they find their hives ill supplied with air, of which they require much on account of their great activity, they station a number at the entrance to the hive who use their wings vigorously, driving a considerable current within. To be able to remain in their places they seal their feet to the floor, otherwise they would fly away, so active are their movements.

I might mention other facts, but these are sufficient for my purpose. I know that many, even naturalists, will say that all these acts are purely instinctive, and not the result of reflection or reason. Let us look into the matter a little more closely. What is instinct? Dr. Reid defines it as "a blind impulse to certain actions without having any end in view, without deliberation, and often without any conception of what we do." In other words, instinct is the power of acting without reflection, but in a manner so as to achieve an end the same as if reason and intelligence had been used, and always in response to some internal stimuli, depending on some necessity requiring such action. Instincts are always inherited. They are the results of the experience of ancestors for so long a time as may be required to organize them into the structure of the nervous system, so that they become a part of its property. In order that any act may become instinctive it must be performed in every way many times, so that it "does itself." When a new act comes up that has never been performed before, or performed only a few times, then it seems to me reason and reflection are required. After a while the act may become partly instinctive and partly the result of reason, for some instincts are imperfect. Now I shall refer to only one of the acts mentioned above, that of building a comb of a particular form to fit into a place such as in all probability the bee or its ancestors could never have had to do before. The building of the comb would be easy, but to get the right form and size it would be necessary to think, to reflect, and to distinguish between the right way and the wrong one. This would be an act of reason, of deliberation. It may be said that there is not sufficient brain substance in the bee to allow of so complicated mental operations. I think this is

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begging the question. How do we do this? Who has given us any right to make such a statement? Is it not a bit of egotism in man to claim that he alone thinks, plans, reflects, and adapts means to ends? Man is fairly well adapted to his realm, the bee, the beaver and every animal to theirs, and all when necessary have the power to think, to deliberate, and to keep their plans long enough in their minds to execute them, or to change them if need be, also to see the difference between one plan and another to compare them, and probably to rejoice when they have triumphed over obstacles which may at first have seemed insurmountable.

Editorial Notes and Comments.

The National Educational Association of America holds its first international meeting in Toronto in July of the present year, and when one reads the various estimates of the numbers expected to be present there is a difficulty in understanding how one city can undertake to accommodate such a host of strangers. But Toronto has annual experience of such an influx of visitors, and there is no reason for any of our teachers, who propose to attend the great gathering, to have fears about their accommodation if they only apply in time to the Secretary of the Reception Committee. The local committee has all but completed arrangements. In addition to the intelligence given in our last issue about the sessions, we have further to intimate this month, that the railway companies throughout the United States and Canada have agreed to grant return tickets to Toronto for one fare, plus $2.00, the membership fee to the Association, the railway tickets from distant points being good for return until September. Special cheap excursions will be arranged for the benefit of those attending the convention to points on the great Lakes, down the St. Lawrence River, through the Thousand Islands and Rapids, to the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, the White Mountains and all other points of interest, east and west, north and south. A great exhibition of school work and school supplies, etc., will take place in connection with the convention, and many other features that will be of special interest to the visitors. Rates of board at hotels range from $3.00 per day down to $1.00 per day, and in private houses from $1.00 per day to $4.00 per week. Those intending to remain in the city or neighborhood for several weeks can obtain first class board in good localities for from $4.00 to $6 per week, and at the many summer resorts on the Lake shore. What

will probably be of as much interest to the teachers of Canada as any other feature of the great convention, will be the proposition to have a great National Association of Teachers organized in Canada, on the same basis as this association of the United States.

-The opening of the Granby Academy is a kind of culminating point in the desire for improved school buildings in our province. As is well known, previous to the realization of the Granby project to have the finest school edifice among our country academies, nearly all of our towns and villages have been putting forth praiseworthy efforts to improve the character of their school building; but to reach the point of excellence to which the Granby people have attained in their school enterprise will require an additional effort on the part of every district. The building has been well described in the local press, but what may be of as great service to the cause of education as the erection of such a spacious edifice, is the spirit with which the enterprise has been received by the people of the district themselves. There is a fame in the success of the movement, which in itself will do the village of Granby good, for the building, as it stands, becomes a model for other communities to aim at. But when it is known that the shrewdness of the School Commissioners of the place has so arranged the financial part of the undertaking that the increased tax will hardly be felt by the present generation and certainly not by the generation to come, enquiry will turn towards that centre of the Eastern Townships to see in full play that true spirit of enterprise which every one of our communities should seek to emulate whatever our croakers may advise.

-The inauguration of the movement in favor of school libraries has so far been fairly successful. This, as an effort additional to the efforts in favor of school comforts, is worthy of the most careful consideration by all our teachers. The custom of having school entertainments is an education in itself, and brings the people, who seldom otherwise think of the teachers' work, into some direct relationship with the school; and when the proceeds are laid out for the purchase of standard works of history, poetry and fiction, the education does not remain a mere impulse of the moment, to die out as soon as the entertainment is forgotten, but is continuous and permanent. Where a school library has been established, there seems to be in most cases no stay to its growth. Not only does the annual entertainment or the periodical lecture provide a small income, but the townsfolk are always found anxious, several of

them at least, to make donations of books or money, which often lead to the development of the school library into a library for both young and old. The duties of the teacher are manifold, but to the teacher who has within him the true spirit of philanthropy-who is a little bit more than mere schoolmaster-will hardly look upon the founding of the nucleus of a village library as an irksome duty, inasmuch as it will bring his industry more prominently before the public and probably thereby induce them to take more interest in his work. The money grant which has lately been distributed among the superior schools for school appliances is in no way to be laid out on the school library; yet the improvement of the school-room, which its proper expenditure must necessarily lead to, makes the library all the more of a necessity if we would have our schools complete in every respect. In this connection we would also recommend the teachers of our High Schools and academies to make application to the Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, for a collection of minerals, which, it is needless to say, will be furnished gratis for the use of a school; since by means of such a collection there will be laid the foundation of a school museum as an adjunct to the other school appliances as a sort of complement to the school library.

-To those of our teachers who are interested in the discussion of the higher phases of educational theories and the practical issues of such discussions, we would heartily recommend Education, a monthly magazine published in Boston, and ably edited by Dr. Mowry for so many years. Such a magazine deserves the warmest support, as it certainly merits the highest praise. No one, indeed, who has any interest in school methods should fail to obtain a copy of the April number, wherein the Hon. John D. Long tells in direct terms how he was educated. The article will be thoroughly enjoyed, especially by those who have been wondering when our own Old Schoolmaster proposes to continue his past experiences as pupil and teacher. The number of Education referred to can be procured from Mr. Frank H. Kasson, 50 Broomfield street, Boston.

Current Events.

Montreal is to be congratulated on the great progress that has been made in its schools and school buildings, and now that the plans of the new High School Building have been agreed upon, it is about to have the finest building in Canada used for school purposes. This is as it ought to be. But the Commis

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